Geese

Unlike the picture above, it was heavily overcast at the old Boggy Thicket yesterday, so I heard the geese flying over long before I saw them.  It brought back memories of living amid the rice fields of Brazoria County, and of going goose hunting with my dad.

These weren't the high-dollar hunts that sportsmen pay hundreds of dollars to go on.  We didn't have fancy boats or blinds. We just picked a likely looking spot, usually near some water, and if we set out decoys at all, they were only balled up pages newspaper.  In spite of that, we were always successful.

It was on one of these hunts that my dad said, "Son, have you noticed that when geese fly one side of the Vee is always longer than the other?"

When I agreed that was true, he asked, "Do you know why?"

I thought about what little I knew about the habits of geese, and things like drafting and wind currents, but finally admitted that I did not.

He looked at me, smiled and said, "It has more geese."